Is this drive compatible with a mac? I would assume it just needs to be reformatted, but the system requirements state Windows so I wanted to be sure.
17689
Yes it is compatible with Mac. I had the same question but once assued it works with Mac and Linux, I installed one in my Mac and run Linux on the other. Great drive for the money.
17690
There is no mention of Mac compatibility on the packaging, only current versions of Windows. I doubt it is intended for use with Mac computers. -- JG
298147
With the built in utilities on Windows or Mac, you can easily format this drive to whatever you like. OS X for Mac or NTFS for Windows. Unfortunately, those can only be read by their respective operating systems. If I remember correctly, FAT32 can be read by either O/S, but it has some limitations like 4GB maximum file sizes. There is a driver by Paragon (I think it costs $20 if you want to do it legally) that allows Mac to read your NTFS drives or vice versa. This would be another option if you need your drive to operate with both O/Ss. BTW, all drives have this limitation, and all drives can be formatted. As they love to charge more for MAC stuff (presumably because MAC people think they are cool, sometimes are ignorant, but don't care about cost), I would always recommend buying a PC drive and reformatting it to MAC if necessary.
1040838
I would say no since the latest drives I could find were for Power PC. It looks to be pretty dated drivers for the Mac.
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Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here: http://www.hgst.com/support/faqs/how-format-my-drive-mac-only-hfsHope this helps.Tim Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here:... » Read More Tabitha. I am not certain because I do not normally use MACs. However....note the tech specs on Amazon.com. It says "Preformatted for PCs, easily reformatted for Macs" What this PROBABLY means is the drive is NTFS formatted (Microsoft proprietary formatted) so will work plug and play with PCs running Microsoft operating systems. Which is why I can just plug it into a USB port and begin using it. For a MAC user you will probably have to format it (to HFS) for your specific MAC operating system. It should be fairly straight-forward. The manufacturer gives directions for this here: http://www.hgst.com/support/faqs/how-format-my-drive-mac-only-hfsHope this helps.Tim « Show Less
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My use of this drive has been exclusively on the Mac. However, I did not use any of the back-up software or formatting provided on the drive. It was necessary to use the Mac disk utility to reformat the drive. Then it worked with Apple's Time Machine.
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The description for the 500GB model says "Preformatted hard drive is ready for immediate use with Windows and Mac." I don't have a Mac, but based on that, my guess is it should work on both.
2219864
Yes, I reformatted mine to ExFAT immediately after I got it. Been working fine as a media drive I switch between Windows and OSX with no issues at all.
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@Tony I believe you could. You'd have to create two partitions on the drive, one formatted in HFS+ (for Mac) and the other in NTFS (for Windows). I have never done any such thing but it might be worth a try. Of course, as these drives have come so far down in price, why not just buy two, one for Mac and the other for Windows?
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It will not work on Win7 if it's been formatted to work Mac. I have a mac that I backed up mp3s and stuff on this drive. Can't get it off using my Win7 machine.
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I use a Mac, but I am pretty sure it will work with windows. You might have to format it the first time you use it.
135686
in the paper that comes with the drive it directs you to seesupport.wdc.com --> knowledge base article #287The 2TB version I just bought was pre-formatted for NTFS (which Disk Utility recognized just fine...I reformatted for Mac just for the better file system)
2136756
The box says it is compatible with both Mac OS X (10.5 or later) and Windows (Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008). I don't have a way to test if I plug it in to a Mac to see if it just works from one to another. I have read, however, that you may be able to do this with any drive by installing certain programs on your Mac. http://forum.notebookreview.com/apple-mac-os-x/192574-copying-mac-files-pc-external-hard-drive.html
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I am no expert but my experience is that you can format any drive to be compatible with MAC and PC by using the correct format.If using some MAC formats, the PC cannot recognize it and using a PC format my mac can read but not write.NTFS will work fine with both MAC and PC i.e. you can read and write from either
1802749
It will work on a mac computer. Check the file system when you get it. If it is NTFS, yes you will have to reformat. If it is fat32 you can use it in the mac straight away. Either way, I would recommend you reformat it to exfat because fat32 has a much smaller file size limitation.
135688
If you have a PC, you will generally format this drive using the NTFS file system. A Mac can only read NTFS formatted drives, but can not write to them.If you format this drive to FAT32, both PC and Mac will be able to read/write to it.*the limitations of FAT32 however, prevent a single file size being greater than 4Gb
1872199
Windows does not read Mac formatted dis as far as I know. I have an external floppy drive that I use with Windows 7 Pro for my wives use in the law office. There is nothing in the specs that says that it will allow Windows to read Mac formatted disc. Sorry
543721
Yes. Your Mac will ask how you want to format the drive. You choose the format that works best in your environment.